Green Energy's Baptists and Bootleggers

If Warren Buffett likes solar, it's not because the technology is cutting-edge.

By

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.

Jan. 15, 2013 6:46 p.m. ET

President Obama was right: Solar is back. Exchange-traded indexes of solar shares are up 60% since Election Day. One big solar company, SunPower, saw its share price surge 41% in a single day this month.

Of course, it might be more accurate to say President Obama is back, and solar is riding his coattails. The fiscal-cliff deal extended an accelerated write-off for "renewable" energy investments and protects (at least for now) the Treasury's "1603" program, in which taxpayers hand green developers 30%...